Not an Ostridge
by spilooooo
Summary: Takes place from the day after the plane. i am by no means a writer and this is my first fanfic, EVER! Sorry but im taking a break due to exams :
1. I often eat alone

Chapter 1

I often eat alone.

Blu slowly woke, his mind still hazy from the last days events, considering whether or not it was all a dream, yet as he opened his eyes he found himself inside of the hollow they had made home the aviary, Blu knew how much Jewel still didn't trust humans even if she didn't show it, so he made it so it was out of view of any of the camera's, he wanted it to be his and Jewels secret, however Tulio and Linda had a good guess at what he was up to when they had caught Blu trying to sneak pillows from the clinic's lounge, he looked around the hollow, it was easily big enough for three or four birds, or it was until Blu had brought in some what he called "homely comforts"

The macaw looked down to his left, smiling at the sight of the sleeping sky blue bird that was Jewel, she was sleeping a short distance away, which he found odd, he was sure she was further away the when they went to sleep the night before, Not wanting to wake her, Blu gently stood up, and slinked towards the entrance of the hollow, the room was still shady and free of the ambient bird song that usually played during the day. "Tulio mustn't be up yet" Blu thought to himself in a whisper, as if he thought too loudly it would wake Jewel. He glided down to the ground and walked toward the door to the treatment room, to which Tulio had added a bird flap, allowing Blu, and Jewel to enter and exit the aviary if they wanted to, however they were told they weren't to leave the clinic without either Tulio or Linda.

Blu walked through the bird flap and into the treatment room. Although Blu had only been in this room twice before it seemed very familiar to him, The room was large with many windows, it was much brighter than the aviary, which meant Blu was blinded for a second while his eyes adjusted, the room was long, many high counters holding different medical equipment prevented Blu from seeing to the other end, however he could tell that the walls were lined with wooden cupboards filled with more equipment and bottles of medicine, or what Blu assumed to be medicine anyway. Artificial branches and which made for perches crossed the ceiling, and nest hung from every opportunity, they were crammed with sleeping birds of many shapes and sizes, some of which Blu recognised from the plane accident the day before, however Blu was sure he saw a chicken in the mist of canaries, macaws and cockatoos, and now that he thought about it, he was sure that chicken was painted blue...

Blu strolled through the treatment room, and flew up to a desk where he found Tulio deep in sleep, drooling onto what looked like a medical form. "Good morning!" greeted Blu and almost rudely waking Tulio from his sleep. "Oh good morning Blu, just the bird I've been wanting to talk to!" replied Tulio as if speaking to a person, with that he stretched and extended his arm for Blu to perch onto, leading him to what Blu assumed was a kitchen. "I've been thinking about cooking a meal for Linda, because we spend so much time in the clinic, it is sometimes too late for her have a proper meal at her apartment, of course" Tulio sheepishly explained "And I thought since no one knows Linda more than you do, you could help me pick what to cook for her" he said placing Blu down and beginning to route through a large fridge. Blu was slightly muddled as to how he could help with this matter, however they eventually settled on a fillet of some exotic Brazilian fish that Blu had never heard of, its then that Blu noticed a bowl of fruit on a table a short distance away. "Maybe I should make a meal for Jewel, she might be a bit happier with staying here until her wings healed" Blu thought to himself. He flapped over to the bowl and gave Tulio what Blu thought humans considered to be a "look!" squawk. Tulio gave a hearty laugh "oh you don't want these fruit Blu, here let me show you" and with that walked over to the door into the treatment room, holding it open for Blu to walk through, although Blu could now fly, he still felt more at ease walking around, especially indoors. In the treatment room Tulio led Blu over to a smaller fridge with a glass door, inside Blu could see a variety of exotic fruit, some which he recognised, some that he didn't. "You could use these ones if you wanted Blu, I'm sure Jewel would love them, me and Linda could help you get everything ready" to which Blu replied with a "thank you" squawk.

When Blu returned to the aviary Jewel was up and awake, she was washing herself in one the small streams that ran through the room, "hey there Bobo!" she said as he approached. "Again with the Bobo?" he replied, Bobo had been Jewels nickname for Blu since they had met Rafael, although Blu didn't particularly like the name, he much preferred it to "nerd bird" his last nickname that the geese back In Minnesota gave him. "How's the wing?" he asked, after all he got was a teasing smile from Jewel. "Broken" She answered sarcastically "It aches a bit, but I'll be fine, don't worry about it" she added giving Blu a slight nudge. Blu smiled down at her, almost becoming lost in her eyes before forcing himself to look away and loudly cough hoping that she hadn't noticed. Jewel laughed giving him a small peck on his cheek. "Coming Bobo?" she asked starting to walk back to the tree that contained their hollow, "errr, yeah.. sure" he responded in shock and followed her up into the tree and onto a branch They spent the day lazing inside the clearing as Blu explained "wanted to go 5 minutes without almost being killed" they were only disturbed by Linda when she sneaked in some strawberry ice cream, which was Blu's favourite, for the two of them. Blu also went out to discuss his plan to make Jewel a meal to Nico, Pedro and Rafael, to which they found highly surprising and impressive, as the most romantic thing they had seen Blu do was admit to Jewel that his eyes were beautiful. "You gotta have candles bro, chicks dig that sorta' thang" Pedro advised him. "And music, amigo play the right song and you'll have jewel head over heels" added Rafael.

"so you're sure it'll be okay?" jewel asked Blu, her face filled with nervousness, "oh sure" casually replied the macaw "I used to get check-up's all the time back in Minnesota, it's just to make sure that you wing is healing up okay" Jewel sheepishly smiled, at the macaws attempt at calming her nerves, nevertheless she could not see a way out of the situation, and slowly perched herself onto the arm of Tulio, who led her out into the treatment room. After the door had closed and Blu heard Tulio footsteps fade away, he moved over to the entrance hole Blu had been pushed through on his first day in Rio, he tapped the door with his beak and it instantly opened. Blu walked into the dimness of the monitoring room where Linda was waiting with two small tea plates filled with fruit and seeds, she gave a giggle at the sight of him, "oh Blu, you soppy bird", Blu did not answer, he just hoped that his blush wasn't visible through his feathers, but had a horrible feeling that It did. He hurriedly took the plates into the aviary one at a time, setting them down next to one of the streams, he also brought in a small red birthday candle which he had found earlier that day. Everything set, he thought, proudly smiling to himself.

Jewel sighed irritably. "hurry up then" she thought to herself, glaring at Tulio as he strolled through the treatment room, which annoyed jewel greatly, Tulio usually walked at a fair pace, jogging almost at times. Why now have you chosen to be so slow? Intensing her glare. Tulio checked his watch for the fourth time this minute "umm.. Okay jewel all I need to do now is to take a quick x-ray and then you can go" he said, checking his watch for a fifth time. "Finally" jewel growled as Tulio set up the x-ray machine. A minute later the x-ray had been taken and Tulio was carrying Jewel back through into the aviary, however when they got to the door he set her down on the floor and opened the door for her "in you go jewel" he said smiling. Jewel thought this was odd, she was expecting him to carry her in and over to Blu, however she didn't complain, although eyeballed him slightly as she walked through the door. She was still eyeing Tulio when she had taken a few steps into the aviary, she wasn't sure of what Tulio was planning, although she was defiantly not expecting the wink that she got as he closed the door behind her. Confused she stared at the door for a few seconds before hearing the strangest sound. The sounds of a singer, similar to the song Nico had sung on the tram rang through the aviary. She slowly turned round, but what she saw next made her beak to drop.

Blu stood next to the candle, from Jewels view he was completely silhouetted, she stood entranced, unable to piece together what she was seeing. "oh god, I'm going to have to say something" Blu thought after 10 seconds of silence had past and jewel was still stood beak dropped, "I knew you weren't very happy with staying here so long, so… so I errr…" Blu began but trialled away as jewel started to laugh "Blu you made this?" she asked, apparently out of her trance as she walked over to Blu, observing the fruit hungrily. "Yes!, well.. Tulio and Linda helped, and Pedro, oh and Raf..'" he began to explain but Jewel had put a feather to his beak, "you're meant to just say yes silly!" she giggled.

They ate the meal slowly, not souly to saviour how good it tasted, but more to make the moment last longer, to both of them it was perfect, and each lover the other, and although they hadn't confessed this yet it seemed to make it much more a perfect moment, not confined to just they're feelings, they could talk, laugh and act stupid with each other, they talked about what they were going to do after they were released into the wild, although Blu was still convinced that they would part ways. The two macaws remained at the riverside long after the food had gone and the music had stopped playing, the candle had almost burnt down to the floor, washing the aviary with long shadows and a delicate orange glow.

Blu and Jewel lay close together on the riverside, laying silently, happy with just the sound of running water and the others company. "That was amazing" beamed Jewel after letting out a hefty belch, "w-well I'm glad y-you liked it" Blu managed to slur, his heart was racing and it had no intentions of slowing, Jewel giggled and gave him a slight shove, she loved Blu, despite the fact that he can hardly string a sentence to her at times. She laid her head upon his shoulder and the two watched as the last of the candle burned away, plunging the room into darkness. The macaws both slipped away into a contented slumber.


	2. Freedoooooom!

Chapter 2

Freedooooom!

The duo spent the next 3 weeks generally in the aviary, which had taken its toll on Jewel's mood, although she knew there wasn't a way to cut short her stay, so she rarely protested. The aviary was a very routine place, Blu had soon noticed that Tulio found the monitoring desk precisely 7:32am on the dot every morning. Blu and Jewel spent the days simply talking, Jewel taught Blu about life in the jungle, which fruit are good to eat and so forth. she also, to Blu's embarrassment showed him the basics of nest building together the two made a small fragile looking next on the floor of the aviary, they could not put it in a tree on account of jewels wing. While Blu told Jewel about his life before Rio, he told her about all the things he enjoyed, hot chocolate, snow parrots, movies, books. "Wow wow wow, what parrots? Jewel questioned perplexed "snow parrots" repeated Blu "you get a pile of snow together and shape it into a parrot" he added beaming. Jewel's face lingered in the same perplexed expression before sighing "Blu I don't know what snow is for a start" she explained. Blu began describing how snow was rain that had frozen in the sky, "and then it falls down as like a cold white powder and covers everything in like a thick white sheet" the bird finished. Jewel shivered "sounds way too cold for me" she said, slightly concerned at the idea of everything being so cold. "oh don't worry, Rio is much too hot for it to ever snow here" he assured her. As the days past and they became more and more familiar with each other, Blu's confidence increased, slightly. The male macaw could now at least string sentences together "most of the time anyway" Jewel thought as she watched Blu trying to explain to her how his wing had ended up around her in the night. "I-i-I I must o-of…" he spluttered before Jewel put a feather to his beak "oh shush Blu you're going to hurt yourself" she snickered.

Blu woke deliberately early that morning, perched on the rim of the hollow, looking out into the aviary and imagining it as the endless jungle that he would soon be part of. Blu looked back over his shoulder at the slumbering jewel, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, and the slight ruffle of her feathers which each time she exhaled. He tore his ears from her, not wanting to be caught staring for yet another time. Blu bent out of the hollow and breathed the coolness of the aviary's conditioned air. Today both delighted and terrified him,

*flashback* the previous day Tulio had taken Blu with him into the treatment room for Jewel's check-up, which was suspiciously short. Tulio came over to the desk with the usual x-ray image that he took once every 3 days, however today was different, holding the image behind his back he was almost jumping with giddy excitement, "are you ready?" he said, through gritted teeth, obvious struggling to refrain from shouting out the surprise too early. The two macaws squawked by with anticipation, Blu almost fell off the counter as he leaned out to catch a peek at the x-ray. "weeeell..look!" Tulio screeched holding the image for the two to see "your wings completely healed Jewel!" he said with enthusiasm, "tomorrow you'll be set free!" Jewel squawked at the top of her voice while Blu gulped subtly checking over the image for any concealed cracks, there were none. However he couldn't help but feel happy for jewel, this is what she had been looking forward to these past weeks, and it pleased him seeing her so happy. Tulio removed Jewels sling and stroked the back of her head. Jewel rolled her eyes, she was not one for being "pet" but it seemed to make the humans happy so she quietly abided, Blu however loved to be stroked, and it didn't take long for jewel to figure this out, a quick ruffle of his neck and the male macaw went into a kind of trace.  
>*end of flashback*<br>Blu was now at the base of the tree and walking towards the shallow river nearby, the lights were still dark which meant that Tulio had not arrived in the monitoring room. He slowly plunged himself into the stream, which was oddly Luke warm to the touch, most birds would have found this to be surprising, however Blu being as domesticated as he was made him quite wise, He presumed it must also be controlled like everything else in the aviary. The macaw sighed, craning his neck into the clear water, his hopes of a cold refreshing bath leaking away with the last of the drowsiness that lingered in his eyes. He continued about his business for the best part of five minutes, by now the first rays of the morning sun had begun to seep through the high windows. Just as blu had begun to preen his wings he sensed something weave itself into his back feathers, Blu froze extending his wings somewhat, similarly to when a spider had attached itself to his back not too long ago. The mysterious object dipped and swerved along down his body, it was not till he heard the accustomed teasing giggle, almost from inside him that he realised it was jewel. "errr, jewel.. W-what are you doing?" he said in a faint voice, obviously the fact that it was Jewel had not made the situation any less daunting.  
>"I'm getting out your bad feathers silly" she replied casually, removing herself from the midst of Blu's feathers, ignoring his state of his almost paralysis<br>"do birds usually do this together?" although Blu was getting use to life as a wild macaw he had yet to experience some of his species finer social aspects.  
>"Only really close ones" she answered in the same casual tone, though with ahint seductiveness in her voice<br>"What?"  
>"Oh nothing, now com'on Bobo now you do me" she ordered, although she soon ducked away with embarresment as she realised what she had just said.<br>"o-o-oo..Kay" stuttered Blu, thinking about changing his name to scarlet due to his intense blush. He slowly lowered his head deep into the female birds feathers and breathed heavy, her scent intoxicated him, he instinctively ran his beak gently down her back, tentatively plucking the bad feathers off and letting them fall delicately into the water, unsurprisingly there were very few, even though with the time Blu spent Jewel's back could be bare. He retracted his head from her with closed eyes, as if he had lifted it from the most perfect flower bed "someone looks like he's enjoying himself" Jewel laughed  
>"o-oh what? Oh no I was j-jus' there's just something in my eye that's all" He lied, giving his left eye and unconvicting rub<br>"Want me to have a look?" she asked, although turned to gaze into his eyes without an answer. The pair looked into the eyes of the other, mesmerised they started to close in, they're beaks almost touching, almost touching when the aviary lights clunked into action, and the room was filled with the now slightly annoying bird calls. Blu and Jewel suddenly leaped apart from each other "I-I couldn't see anything, sorry"  
>"what? Oh, oh that's okay, I think it's gone now, he said with grimace. Blu silently sighed "7:32.. great timing Tulio" he thought sarcastically.<p>

They spent the rest of morning in the aviary, due to the fact that they weren't to be realised till noon, however the hour soon came and the two were put into a box, much to the discomfort of Jewel, and taken to a balcony of a large watch tower. Out the balcony stood Linda and Fernando. Both, including Tulio who had brought them up, were wearing bright yellow shirts bearing symbol of the Blu bird sanctuary. Tulio had set the sanctuary up with help from the Brazilian government not long after the plane incident, and now covered a large area of rainforest starting from the back of the clinic. Fernando now worked at the clinic full time and seemed to be enjoying earning a living honestly. He lived with Linda at the top of Linda's new book store which she had opened after selling her old one in Moose Lake but also came to do volunteer work at the clinic whenever she could.  
>The three of them quickly said they're goodbyes to Jewel, knowing that she would take to the sky's at the first opportunity, and they were right to think so, she soon took off into the air, circling above the balcony waiting for Blu to join her, Blu perched on the edge of the balcony's railing and listened to the three as they exchanged farewells "remember, Lionel Richie, works every time" winked Tulio.<br>"Stay safe Blu, no hard feelings?" Fernando asked guiltily and extending his hand, he too had started to treat him as if he were a human, Blu simply happily chirped and rubbed his neck along his palm, he had no hard feelings against him, besides, if it weren't for him his adventure would have ended before it had even began. Then he came to Linda, his heart sank a little as he smiled at her. Linda said nothing, but smiled broadly and lowered herself to his level, and outstretched her fist. Blu and Linda completed their signature hand shake, and Blu looked out over the dense forest, he took a brief moment to prepare himself, then he thrust wings downward propelling him skyward, it was bliss feeling the warm air flow through is feathers as he increased in altitude to join jewel, and they flew off into the distance to start they're new life.


	3. Friends i'd like you to meet

**Okay so this is chapter 3, hope you enjoy it! Its an ****um, uneventful chapter if im honest, i had planned big things, but it became a bit long for my liking, and with exams coming up imma have to put this on hold for a while. so next chapter i promise! Anyway this is the debut chapter of my OC, Samuel, who you will soon meet, let me know what you think? Would very much appreciate it, chaio!**

Jewel glided above the canopy of the jungle, feeling the warmth of the sun strike her back. She looked back over her shoulder at Blu who was following her shortly behind, the two had just been released back into the wild after spending the last few weeks in the clinic. Her wing still ached, but it was bearable, and she just put it to lack of use instead of actual damage.

Once they had flown for the best part of fifth teen minutes, Blu and Jewel descended beneath the canopy and perched themselves on a high branch

"Where was it again?" Blu panted

"I'm sure it was around here somewhere" jewel replied before taking off again

Blu grunted and followed her, that was the fourth time he had gotten that response. Jewel wandered the area for another 5 minutes before she landed again.

"See, I told you I knew where it was" she said proudly, pointing to the hollow on another tree

"so you did" Blu sighed, not wanting to argue. "So how are we doing this?

"i thought you were the smart one?" she said in a stern tone.

"right, this is what we'll do. we'll fly above the canopy, and then when i give the signal, we dive down straight into the hollow, hopefully eva will be there." He said, with uncertainy in his voice, clearly doubting the chances of success for his own plan. Jewel nodded and flew high up above the canopy of the dense jungle, followed shortly by blu who leveled out ahead of her. They glided for a while in silence, tuning all theyre senses for any sign of the group of young ambushers. Blu gave the signal, and he and Jewel fell into a steep drive.

"ATTACK!" screamed the voice of a infant toucan

Blu's eyes shot open "No! it cant be!" he thought to himself before being tackled to the ground, and minutes of painful torement began.

"Off!" finally boomed the voice of a female toucan

The 17 blurs shot off into the nearby bushes and the clearing fell into near silence

"Aye aye aye, sorry about that you two" repeated the voice, one that could belong to Eva, the mother of the young toucans.

Blu sat up and arched his back, resulting in a large crack "it's okay, worth a try right?" he sighed looking over to jewel

"I suppose so" she grunted, her head feathers had been ruffled to the point where they hung down over her eyes

Eva stood watching the two macaws as they rearranged themselves. "so what brings you here? I'm guessing you've been released?" she asked after they had finished

"Yeah we were released just now actually, were just wondering if there's any empty hollows nearby?" Blu explained

"Well you're better off asking Rafael, he knows the jungle better than me, I'm mostly at home with the..kids" she sighed, her eye lids coming down to meet her pupils.

"oh..is he here?" he asked, not wanting to stay on the subject of the toucans offspring

Eva's expression worsened "well.." began the toucan "he was meant to be getting us some lunch, but he's taking his time" she grunted

The two macaws exchanged looks, unsure on how to answer, jewel was finally the one to speak "well is it alright if we come back later, maybe then Rafael could-"

"I could what?" the male toucan asked, seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Rafael turned to Blu and chuckled "well if isn't the Blu of the bird sanctuary himself" he teased

Blu laughed nervously "oh you saw that did you?"

Rafael chuckled again "everyone did" he said taking Blu's shoulder with his wing "you're practically a national celebrity" he said extending his other wing away from him

"Oh stop it Rafael you're scaring him" Eva ordered noticing Blu had gone quite still

"Yes dear" the toucan obeyed instantly "so what can I do for you jewel?"

"well me and Blu got released today, we were wondering if you could show us some empty hollows?" she replied

The toucan grinned "of course I can, I'll give you the grand tour!...well, Eva can I-"

Eva laughed "well I guess so" she looked around "but where is our.." the toucan turned back around "lunch?" her husband and the two Macaws were gone.

"RAFAEL!"

Rafael gulped as he looked by over his shoulder "maybe I should've gotten lunch first" he thought to himself as he flew to the first hollow

"Too late now" jewel smirked, almost reading his mind

Rafael perched himself onto a branch, a large hole in the trees truck was level with him, he was soon joined by Blu and jewel.

"How about this one?" he asked

Blu hopped over to the hollow and looked inside "seems fine to me" he said, coming back onto the branch

Jewel went into the hollow; she didn't emerge for some time "hmm... Well, it's just.." the two males sighed, this was the seventh hollow they had visited.

"Come on, I'll show you another one. It's not far" Rafael said, and flew off the branch.

The three of them landed on a branch of another tree, it was not far from Rafael's own hollow

He turned to the two macaws "now just keep your voices down" he whispered glancing in the direction of his home

Blu examined the inside of the new hollow, to him it appeared the exactly same as the last seven they had visited, he emerged and returned to the branch, giving the other two an approving nod. It was then jewels turn. The two males crossed they're feathers hoping she would approve

"it's perfect!" she beamed, a little too loud than Rafael would have liked

Blu and Rafael exchanged looks, and decided to join jewel inside, out of view of Eva.

The two thanked Rafael, and offered to help him collect some lunch for Eva before he returned

"I'll introduce you to the neighbours along the way" he said, since the macaws had decided to live so close.

Rafael showed them the nearest bathing spots, and places to get food, he introduced them to some of the local birds along the way. They met a family of scarlet macaws, and a military macaw couple.

"There's just one more bird I'd like you to meet, he's a close friend of mine" the toucan explained, gliding down the bottom of a nearby tree "anyone home? He shouted up to the trees hollow. The head of a bird looked down at them, to Blu's surprise it was one that he didn't recognise, even with his experience of animal planet.

"Ralfy!" the bird shouted back in a male's voice in a slight British accent, he glided down to them. "and Blu! Nice to meet you I'm Samuel" he beamed shaking Blu's hand. Blu exchanged looks with Rafael

"I told you" he said simply

Bu looked back to Samuel, he was like no other bird he had ever seen. He had a beak that was ivory in colour, his head feathers were white, his body was a dark red and a stripe of blue separated the two. His wings started in the same dark red, before changing to blue, then green, and finally yellow at the tips.

"nice to meet you too" Blu replied slightly trances by the birds appearance.

Samuel chuckled, "you are new here are you not? I am a saint Vincent Amazon" he explained proudly "I used to be a show bird before I was released due to my species endangerment". He turned to jewel "this is your mate I presume?"

"No" "yes"

"Not really" "kinda"

The two said simultaneously. There was an awkward silence

"Well, not yet" they explained at the same time. The four of them laughed

"I understand, your Spix macaws if I'm not mistaken. Last of your kind?"

Blu and jewel nodded

"I see, no need to explain" Samuel chuckled "so Ralfy what brings you here?"

"Well I was helping these two find a hollow, they've just been released. Just thought I'd introduce them to a few people" Rafael explained

"and so you came to me" Samuel added, sounding pleased with himself "the honour is all mine" bowing his head slightly to the two macaws, his stomach growled furiously "however I'm afraid I must leave you" he finished, patting his belly.

"Why don't you join us? Rafael asked indicating the food he had collected for him and Eva. "You two could come too" he added to Blu and jewel

"I'd love to, thanks a bunch" Samuel replied.

Blu and jewel looked at each other "we really need to get our hollow sorted" jewel explained "maybe another time?"

"I understand" the toucan sighed "guess it's just us two against Eva, the 'bad fruit excuse'?" he sighed to Samuel

"The bad fruit excuse" Samuel nodded

The two pairs exchanged goodbyes and went their separate ways, Samuel and Rafael headed to the toucans hollow, while Blu and jewel returned to theirs.

The pair of macaw's returned to their new hollow, it was large as far as they go, easily fitting the two of them and Rafael earlier that day. They sun was now quite low on the horizon, casting an orange backdrop on the dense forest.

"So how do we do this?" Blu asked jewel

"Just, if you bring that here" jewel replied

"Here?"

"Yeah, now put it in there"

"O-okay"

"Now, just- ill come over the top"

"Now what?"

"Ugh this is hopeless" she sighed, letting go of the twig held in her mouth. "Nest build isn't really one of your strengths is it?"

"I suppose not" agreed Blu. They pair had been trying to build a nest for the past hour, however Blu was causing more trouble than it was worth

Jewel walked to the opening of the hollow "tell you what, I'll get this nest finished, why don't you get us some food?"

Blu smiled and agreed, he also walked to the edge of the hollow "I'll see you soon, anything in particular?" he asked, trying to sound like he was sure what to do

Jewel grinned "a mango please". Her smiled faded "There the big round ones, kind of orange in colour" she added after getting no response from Blu

"Got it" said Blu slightly crest fallen. He took off into the air away from the hollow and flew towards the nearest mango tree Rafael had shown them.

Blu landed on the branch of a mango tree, looking up at the fruit hanging above him "ugh, I wish I paid more attention when jewel was explaining which ones to get, how am I suppose to know which ones are good?" he thought aloud

"Easy" replied the voice of a bird. Blu jumped with fright, making him lose his footing and fall to the jungle flour, luckily the lower layers delayed his fall and suffered minimal damage. "Sorry about that Blu" chuckled the bird "guess I should've said hi first"

Blu opened his eyes and allowed them to refocus, a voting him was the smiling face of Samuel, a St. Vincent Amazon he had met earlier that day

"Oh hi Samuel, nice of you drop in" Blu grunted sarcastically

Samuel laughed heartily "likewise" he happily replied, pulling Blu to his feet "so you are looking for a mango?"

Blu twitched his neck, making it crack "yeah, jewel wanted one" he explained

"Ah I see, follow me". He said flying back up into the tree. Blu followed him up and perched beside him, the two birds eyed the fruit

"You want to look for ones without any obvious marks, holes, bruises, that sort of thing. Once you've found one that fits the bill, you want to smell it"

"Smell it?" Blu asked slightly perplexed

"Yes smell it" assured Samuel in a wise tone "a good mango will smell, well.. Good". He flew up and examined a group of mangos before picking one and bringing it back down "here, this is a good mango" he said holding it up "now you can have this one, but first you can pick one for me"

Blu looked over to Samuel, he was younger than Blu was, maybe 12 years of age, and an inch shorter, however showed an appetite more suited to a large bird "I thought you already ate? He asked

"I did" he answered in a casual tone "and I'm still hungry"

"Makes sense I guess" said Blu, flying up to another group of mangos, after finding one that looked edible, he brought his nose close and sniffed it. His eyes shot open and he repeated from the mango, "defiantly not good" he thought.

Blu soon found a suitable mango and brought it down to Samuel, who swapped it for the one he was holding. Samuel examined the mango he had been given.

"Not bad" he nodded impressed "thank you, and with that, I bid you farewell" he pronounced, flying away back to his hollow

"Take care!" Blu called, before returning to his own nest.

Jewel stood back and looked over the nest which she had finished. She had helped friends make nests in the past but the finished product wasn't as satisfactory As her own. She turned to the opening in the tree and waiting for Blu to return, it was not long before he noticed the patch of blue in the ever more orange sky coming towards her. Blu flew down into the hollow, placing down the heavy mango that he had carried back from the tree

"Well, I'm impressed, d'you get this all by you? Jewel asked, eyeing the mango hungrily

"Yeah, well, sort of. Samuel gave me a bit of help" Blu admitted "but enough about details I'm starving"

"Couldn't agree more" jewel laughed as the two started on the meal "so?" jewel asked in a teasing voice, her mouth full of mango

"So what?" Blu replied, his mouth equally full

Jewel swallowed before continuing "so what do you think of the jungle, not that bad is it"

"No, it's not bad at all" he said, sounding quite pleased with himself


End file.
